China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Keeping tradition alive
Inheritors of intangible cultural heritage help ensure their art not only survives but thrives, Alexis Hooi and Wang Haoran report in Rizhao, Shandong.
Liu Dongmei crafts intricate pankou, or traditional Chinese knotted buttons commonly used on qipao dresses. Ask the master artisan about the main factor behind her elaborate designs and the answer is surprisingly simple.
“First and foremost, you must have the passion for making them,” she said.
Liu, 62, is a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage artisan in Wulian county of Rizhao, East China’s Shandong province. Her award-winning pankou designs have adorned the dresses of luminaries in the public and private sector, appeared in national and other major ceremonies and events, and even emerged in modern, creative cultural items such as handbags and other fashion accessories.
The earliest written records of Chinese knot buttons can be traced to the Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century—256 BC).
Pankou artisans usually fashion thin strips of cloth before twisting them meticulously into different shapes and affixing them to the collars of the quintessential Chinese dresses. A traditional pankou combines an embossment with a circular piece of material, which are looped like a buckle to “tie” the button.
“I also conduct regular classes and training sessions for children and young women,” Liu said.
She has been involved in about 1,600 pankou- making classes for students and conducted free training sessions for at least 660 women from local villages, as well as helped provide job opportunities related to the craft for more than 80 people.
“We must keep this Chinese tradition alive and constantly innovate to help it thrive,” Liu said.
To that effect, Rizhao is exploring innovative ways to preserve and develop its traditional cultural handicrafts to boost its cultural industry, with the city government rolling out more measures to support the preservation of traditional handicrafts and promote them, such as by setting up handicraft industrial parks, hand-made experience halls, as well as intangible cultural heritage workshops.
The workshops have become major venues for promoting handicraft culture, according to local authorities. Training courses have also been held to help traditional handicrafts inheritors discover new trends from old arts and attract intangible cultural heritage enthusiasts.
The provincial government has issued a plan to promote Shandong’s resources along culturally and historically significant areas, such as those of the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall of Qi, and the Bohai and Yellow seas. As a major coastal city of the Shandong Peninsula, Rizhao will also focus on promoting the handicraft industry by integrating seaside tourism, according to authorities.
Wulian county alone now boasts more than 70 major listings of intangible cultural heritage.
Other local inheritors of intangible cultural heritage include ceramic artist Ma Chibin.
Ma, 42, has won many awards and accolades with his lifelike folk figurines, mythological creatures, iconic landscapes and sturdy vessels. His ceramic murals also adorn the halls of several museums across the country.
“When I was a child, there were many kiln factories around the village and I would play around them, especially since they were warm and comfortable in the colder months,” Ma said. “Ceramic culture influenced me very much.”
Personal links
In 2007, Ma returned to his hometown in Wulian after studying, training and working throughout the province and Beijing.
Ma said the high-quality clay he uses for his artworks are still drawn from the county, with its distinctive touch, feel and texture traced back to ancient times, helping him to maintain his links with the land and preserve its heritage in a personal way.
When asked about the inspiration behind the adorable, addictive grins of his popular series of child musician sculptures, the artist said their positive mood is exactly how he feels.
“I’m very happy when I’m creating these works, so perhaps they reflect that,” said Ma, who also conducts classes in the community to pass on the traditions of his art.
“As a ceramist, it is important to play with and feel a handful of clay ... I want to pass on the craft and allow more people to better understand this intangible cultural heritage of ours.”
For Zhao Hongxiang, being the seventh generation master craftsman of millstones in the area means a major responsibility to not just pass down the intangible cultural heritage, but also to come up with new ways of keeping it practical and useful.
“Our innovations include smaller sized, customized millstones that can fit on common kitchen counters,” said Zhao, 35.
“Elderly family members who live with their children and grandchildren in apartments can still enjoy grinding grains for their breakfast and other meals, which many people believe are still more healthy than processed foods,” he said.
Zhao said he hopes to educate more people from home and abroad about the millstones and share his personal connections with the object.
He is setting up a museum dedicated to the history and development of Chinese millstones, with a comprehensive array of ancient and contemporary exhibits to be located right next to his workshop.
Interactive displays incorporating multimedia technology will allow visitors young and old to come up close with an important aspect of Chinese agricultural development and civilization, he said.
Zhao added that, in line with preserving and promoting their beauty and purpose, the surface grooves of his millstones must still be painstakingly carved out by hand.
“Creating the grooves in specially selected local, hardy stone lies at the heart of every millstone and that remains an integral part of our tradition and heritage,” he said.
We must keep this Chinese tradition alive and constantly innovate to help it thrive.”
Liu Dongmei, a master artisan